Friday, July 31, 2009

As some of you may know, Sprocket was recently diagnosed with feline hyperthyroid. He has a benign tumor on his thyroid gland, located in his neck/throat area. If left untreated, the resulting symptoms (added stress load on the heart that's beating much faster, kidneys, etc.) will kill him.

There have been exceptional advances in recent years treating this illness with radiation. What happens is, an injection of radioactive iodine is injected into the kitty's rear leg. Since iodine is only utilized by the thyroid gland the radioactive iodine targets the tumor. The tumor shrinks and the thyroid goes back to performing like a normal thyroid. No further treatment is needed.

When I came home from attending the Cameron Brown trial yesterday, I got an email from the vet with the photo and caption.

You can watch Sprocket at the clinic on the web cam from 8 am to 8 pm Pacific Time. Here is the link to watch. To access his little cubby web cam, type in all lower case:

Good luck to Kitty Sprocket, and best of wishes to the devoted owner. May good health be there for all of you, and even the White Whale, or whatever it is called.Lots going on in your ife, thanks for the updates. I am more than happy I am not on the jury. I am called for jury duty downtown LA in September, and it is an awesome task, just thinking about it.

Cam down at present, hope to check in later. Noticed yesterday in Mooresville, NC a vet office with large "Cat hyperthyroid clinic" attached to a side building with those large letters facing the road. Surprised to see that in a smaller town like that. In my household, the old cat is thriving and the owner is the one with the surgeries, CT scans, etc.Wes J.

Hi Sprocket!Sounds like you're having a boring summer, NOT! Hopefully your house is back to normal soon and Sprockey has a speedy recovery, medical science is SO amazing! And thank you for squeezing in this fascinating trial on top of everything else you’re doing, it’s very much appreciated by those of us addicted to your wonderful writing. Even if you can’t go every day, it’s still such a treat to have you there whenever you’re able. {{{{hugs!!}}}}

As a person who has thyroid disease, I sympathize for your cat, Sprocket. I cannot see the camera, so maybe kitty is home by now? I hope he feels fine...He should be fine after that treatment. I know it's stressful for all of you so take care and relax.

Am watching Sprockey on the kitty cam, this is so cool! I wish my vet had this when my kitties have had to spend the night, really gives you peace of mind to be able to see him. Do you know approximately how long the treatment takes to shrink the tumor?

The shrinking of the tumor will occur over several months. The length of Sprocket's stay in the special facility is determined by how rapidly he is becoming less radioactive. There is a certain level Sprockey must reach before the State of California will let him come home.

Parents of kitties are not allowed to visit them in the clinic. Even if I was able to visit him, that would be a long drive down to Tustin, CA, from where I live.

Sprockey get's to come home this coming Wednesday. I'll be picking him up after court on that day. The vet is the one who transports the kitties from the West LA affiliate vet down to the treatment center in Tustin.

We are lucky that there is a place close by to take him to receive this expensive treatment. People in other states that don't have vets who specialize in this would have to send their kitties out of state.

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